It might be true that it’s the people inside it who turn a house into a home, but if you’re interested in art and aesthetics, you may also believe that beautiful design plays an important part in making your dwelling place feel special.
Architecture fans can spend hours gazing at the interiors and exteriors of unusual, inspirational and iconic buildings and absorbing every detail from macro to micro – from the dizzying scale of a dreaming spire to the decorative flourishes on a doorknob.
If you’ve got the good fortune to be able to design your own home from scratch, you’ve got a blank canvas on which to achieve your design ambitions on a grand scale. But if this isn’t the case, it’s still perfectly possible to incorporate enough transformative touches during a refurbishment to make a tangible difference.
Either way, some sources of inspiration should help you get started – so get back to the drawing board with these three awesome architectural styles for your home.
- Art Deco
If you’re familiar with Manhattan’s famous Chrysler Building, Kingston, Jamaica’s Carib Theatre or Baz Luhrmann’s filmic interpretation of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, you already know all about the bold colours, cool sweeping curves and gorgeous geometric patterns of Art Deco.
This style became synonymous with the glamorous excess of the Jazz Age, so it’s a subtle yet slightly edgy look which suits certain homes and sensibilities perfectly.
Top Tip: browse this RIBA Art Deco guide for more tips on applying this style to your home.
- Bauhaus
For many people, Germany is associated with efficiency and functionality – and the seminal Bauhaus school embodies both of these concepts with building designs which are sleek, ice cool and somehow simultaneously retro-futuristic and timeless.
Between 1919 and the early 1950s, Bauhaus became influential worldwide and excellent examples can be seen today in the Bauhaus Studio building in Dessau, the Barcelona Pavilion and the IIT Campus in Chicago.
Top Tip: read this Dezeen piece on Bauhaus furniture for inspirational ideas for your home interior.
- Vernacular
In the UK tradition, Vernacular Architecture is a broad brush school which spans several historical styles, including Tudor Wealden Homes with box frames and hipped, tiled roofs, sturdy stone longhouses from the Outer Hebrides and classic Cotswold abodes with course rubble walls and slate tiles.
Despite this architectural style being a broad church, one unifying theme is clever use of natural, organic materials which are locally sourced and applied with artisan care and craftsmanship.
Top tip: dip into the Marchington Stone website for excellent examples of high-quality architectural gravel and stone for distinctive homes.
This terrific hattrick of awesome architectural styles should help as you brainstorm your way to a brilliant home that never goes out of fashion and is a sublime sanctuary for all who spend time in it.
That’s our list! Share your own architectural design tips in the comments section.